Radiator device eor gas engines



June 26, 1923. 1,460,360

L. P. HARLOW RADIATOR DEVICE FOR GAS ENGINES Filed Oct. 1, 1918 2 Sheets-Sheet l VEN TOR.

@92 ,d/ZW

BY 25/84; %M

ATTORNEY June 26, 1923. 1,460,156

L. P. HARLOW RADIATOR DEVICE FOR GAS ENGINES Filed Oct. 1, 1918 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORNEX Patented June 26, 1923.

UNITED STATES LESTER P. BARLOW, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

RADIATOR DEVICE FOR GAS ENGINES.

Application filed October 1, 1918. Serial No. 256,444.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Lns'rnn P. BARLOW, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident The invention relates to an improvement in radiator devices for gas engines, particularly for automoblles. It is a common experience for drivers to find their radia tors boiling or rapidly losing water in the form of steam through the vent pipe, and

aside from the consequent failure in rad1ator function there is the inconvenience of intermittently furnishing additional water to the radiator and at times the impossibility of finding the water.

1 The object of myinvention is to provide by simple devices means to prevent any excessive loss of water through the vent pipe and insure the proper functioning of the radiator even under long-continued and severe engine work. I accomplish this object, broadly, by forcing the water and any mixture of water and steam from the cylinder jacket through the usual radiator without any access to the necessary vent pipe in the system until the steam has had all possible opportunity to condense into water and remain in the system instead of leaving it. The ordinary radiator now used really forces the steam to pass out of the vent pipe because the vent is located as if the purpose were to get rid of the water as fast as it is turned into steam. My purpose is the reverse, and the invention is found not only in the broad feature recited but in the advantageous arrangement for improving the radiator function generally without radical requirements in equipment.

The invention will be described with ref erence to the accompanying drawings but without any intention to limit the scope of the claims by the detailed description, such scope depending upon the prior art as applied to this as a required disclosure.

In the drawings,--

Fig. 1 is asuflicient detail view of my invention as applied to radiators of present construction without change except to plug the vent pipe of suchradiators; and I Fig. 2 is a suflicient detail view of a radiator having my inventionin a modified form built therein.

Referring to Fig. 1, a catalogue identification of well-known parts follows: E is the usual radiator, but its vent pipe and filling opening are plugged against acting as an outlet for the water and steam; H is the hot water inlet to the radiator from the cylin- 1c ler jacket E; C is the outlet; and F is the .an.

The outlet G connects with the bottom of the tank T for my purpose. Water pump P connects the bottom of the tank T by pump inlet I (preferably at the middle to insure water supply) and the cylinder jacket E by pump outlet 0. A vent V leads from the top of the far side oftank T toany suit able point.

Tank '1 has a capacity when about half full to keep the cooling system in normal running condition with the pump working. When the pump stops, radiator R may drain into tank T to about fill it.

The operation will now be described. The pump circulates the water through the system in the usual manner and with the usual effects until such time as there is a tendency for the engine to overheat, which would ordinarily result in the loss of water and an increase in such tendency. According to my invention, the mixture of steam and hot water forced into the radiator has no place to go except through the water passages of the air cooling section. The ordinary vent outlets having been plugged, the only possible outlet, then, is through the cooling section and from the bottom of the radiator to the bottom of the tank. The small amount of steam mixed with the water through this course to the tank will be condensed, in part at least, and any remaining in the mixture will enter the volume of water in the tank and must pass in contact with it to and along the top of the tank where the water is splashing around before it can reach the vent. If by this time it has not condensed, it may pass off to the atmosphere, for it has been held for condensing effect in the system as long as feasible. I

With the structure just described the addition to what is now in common use is the tank T between the radiator and the pump and the relocation of the vent pipe, with the result that the water stays in the system and more effectively maintains the desired temperaturearound the cylinders, particularly when the engine is working hard and long, as it must do in truck practice.

proved design because .the cross-airand 7 water passages or ordinary air-cooling section need not be so largefor equal cooling effect in my construction, thereby permitting a wider scope for variation in shell I design.

A bottom collecting chamber 7 is formed -in the shellby horizontal wall 4 extending.

above the shell bottom between the front The shell side wall is indicated as an in-' wall 3 and a like back wall (not shown).

verted U-shape, and a like wall 2 extends from wall 4,;t11dbetween front and rear wallsin-spaced relation to the side walls to whichw eningasmallopen-endedvent pipe wline of such section extending-between the.

form-the inverted U-shaped passage 6. This sage communicates with the ordinary llingopening F of aradiator-and from V'exten s to a-convenient drip point P outside the radiator.

1 lheradiatingsection proper indicated by Rot any desired -form-.(as, for example, the -Mayohoneycomb type) is heldby usual constructionbetween the side walls2 and the boundary walls H which show the outside frontmnd-rear faces of the radiator.

, closedwexcept for the hot water inlet I from ithecyli'nder jackets and :the water passages :through the coolingsection R. The collect- 1 ''In' this construction a distributing cham-- ber T; is formed between the wall 2 and the .upperuface of :the cooling'section which is ing chamber 7. is "connected to the bottom of thesewater'passagesnand at each side this i chamberhas a passage 5 connecting with the water'passage 6.

-p'assage through opening 5, fills collecting chamber 7, passes out through outlet 0 to {fill the system including the cylinder jackets The operation of this form will. now be described. a The system isfilled with water through F. i The water passes down through --(not shown), rises in the water passages of radiator R and fills them as well as water chamber T- and the pipe connection with inlet I. Meanwhile, the water has filled passages 6 until when water reaches the vent opening in V the system is full.

' The radiator R works in anormal manner with the water from inlet I, in distribut- *ing chamber T, passing throu h water passages 'of R to collecting cham er 7 and out through outlet 0. r The waterin passage 6 is an extra supply for my'purpose.

Iftheengine heats the water and forms steam; it collects in chamber T. The steam -pressure forces the water out of radiator R and up passages 6 and out vent V in proportion to'the pressure. "The steam then an excess sup enters the water passages ofi radiator R and. the latteracts in part as a steam c011- denser.

If steam continues to accumulate, all the water is forced out of R until the steam collected in chamber 7 passes through openings 5. and .up through the water in passages 6 to be, in part at least, condensed. The IadlBIOLR- is. now acting as a steam condenser and the columns of water in passages 6 assist in the condensation of the steam, while the water is collected in chamher 7 for outlet 0 and vent V safeguards the system. The operation just described is, of course, an extreme case, and at the first let-down of the pressure the water inpassages 6 under a suflicient :head, due to the re ative arrangement of these passages-returns or forces water to. fill the radiator system properly and automatically.

Some water has leftithmu h vent V. in the described operatiombuvthisamount was p y and the water-in pa s 6 still forms an'emergencyxsup 13 for file substantial function in Imprinted-operation.

Thus,:;upon the second operation an-- increase of pressure snfiicient to forcei-the water out of nadiaton R intoipasmges 6 will pressure below it but .thatvflie steamwill rise through the watenirr the column. a That is :just whatlhappensiim'my device, 11nd sas soon as the steamcammorki through passages 5; it rises in the columns of watenin passages 6 to suddenly release the prwsure.

uc-h steam is. largely condensed and the pressure of the waterun the columns returns the1 water to the'radiator,-which is'theacta'on I esire.

From the described operation 'one lean understand the function of the improved device and itsgeneral principle of operation. In actual use the-exact operations will vary widely, but according to the-desired principle of condensing steam,' if reasonably posslble, before permittin its release to the atmosphere and of provi ing-for automatically supplying -the'--rmdiator with a full volumeof water as soon-as'reasonably possible w1thout carrying an excessive'volume 'of water for the purpose.

and the water jacket of a gas engine, the arrangement of said connections being such that the cooling unit operates as a condenser when the circulating medium becomes gaseons.

2. A coolin system for gas engines including a coo lng unit, connections between the upper portion of said unit and the upper portion of the water jacket of an engine, connections between the lower portion of said unit and the lower portion of said water jacket, a reservoir in communication with said system, the arrangement of said reservoir being such that steam generated in the system forces the water downwardly out of said cooling unit into said reservoir.

3. A cooling system for gas engines comprising a cooling unit, said unit being normally filled with a cooling liquid, a reservoir, connections between said reservoir and cooling unit so arranged that for steam generated in the system to escape it must force out of the cooling unit the cooling liquid therein.

LESTER P. BARLOVV. 

